Really bruins8, we all know that Kessel is a good player and will probably have better offensive numbers than Seguin this season. And it's for similar reasons why 5 year old horses can generally run faster than 2 year old horses.

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : Impossible point to make, to keep kessel you have to shed 5.25m in salary, assuming ryder was moveable you still have to shed another 1.25m.. and find a way to add a roster player back, meaning you have to really shed 3 guys to replace them with kessel and a guy at league minimum.. if you assume ryder wasn't moveable, which seems more likely at this point, you have to find a way to shed 5.25 m with out dismantling the roster.. Lets's not pretend money wasn't a factor, the bruins never said this is a better team with out phil, no one has, but for 5.25 m, and 2 number ones coming back, he was expendable..Posted by rolerhoky19

The B's had space available under the cap....AND proceeded to spend available dollars on Begin-Bitz-Hunwick and Recchi - it was not due to cap issues, it was due to the fact that CJ wasn't a Kessel fan, and Kessel feeling under-appreciated,mostly from Julien and PC. Ryder and Wideman are worth 4 mill...Bergeron almost 6...Kessel wasn't worth 5 ? If you don't think Claude Julien isn't a force when it comes to GM duties - think again

i know there is a cap and to me we couldve shed 5 mil in other ways like never had paid t thomas, ryder to providence, sturm, wheeler, any combo to equal 5 mil...what about savard? i love him and actually thinks hes more important to the bs than most posters, but if we couldve kept 91 or 81, 81 because of his upside is the guy we shouldve kept...i know kessels all around game is poor..but like burke mentioned we have other guys for that....lets not kid ourself playing with savy, krejci, bery, kessel is a 40 goal guy, 35 at worse...thats production my friends and it also would allow other bruins to score more, seeing kessel will be drawing the checking unit...not to mention his speed will create alot of pp chances and odd man rushes....when seguin reaches kessel production he to will demand 5 mil...its really irrelavant now because whats done is done...butto say this trade is so 1 sided is just crazy

i know there is a cap and to me we couldve shed 5 mil in other ways like never had paid t thomas, ryder to providence, sturm, wheeler, any combo to equal 5 mil...what about savard? i love him and actually thinks hes more important to the bs than most posters, but if we couldve kept 91 or 81, 81 because of his upside is the guy we shouldve kept...i know kessels all around game is poor..but like burke mentioned we have other guys for that....lets not kid ourself playing with savy, krejci, bery, kessel is a 40 goal guy, 35 at worse...thats production my friends and it also would allow other bruins to score more, seeing kessel will be drawing the checking unit...not to mention his speed will create alot of pp chances and odd man rushes....when seguin reaches kessel production he to will demand 5 mil...its really irrelavant now because whats done is done...butto say this trade is so 1 sided is just crazy Posted by bruins8

Ryder just had a 27 goal season. They were not going to move him down to Providence after that. In HINDSIGHT, yes maybe that would have been a good move. TT won the Vezina. I agree that contract was horrible but not because of the 5 mil cap hit for 2009-2010, solely for the length of the contract. NO ONE could have guessed that Tuuka would come into the league and take over the starting job so quickly. Again, HINDSIGHT. Savard has consistently been the top scorer on this team in total points. He was our top set up guy and a huge part of the PP. They were not about to move him. Kessel was asking way too much as a RFA and Burke was being too aggressive. The Bruins could not turn down 2 firsts and a second.

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : Considering that Kessel is five years older than Seguin, and entering his fifth year in the NHL, I hope for his sake he does score more than Seguin, or he's really going to hear it. Anyway, I really don't see the point of this post. If you love Kessel, go root for Toronto. Posted by duinne

Who the F cares that he is 4 years older,you are reaching duinne.Do the Bruins want to win the cup? They lost a great speedster and goal scorer.Ryder 4 mill last 2 years?Remember my RYDER VS KESSEL.Claude you messed up on that trip back to Montreal.

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : The B's had space available under the cap....AND proceeded to spend available dollars on Begin-Bitz-Hunwick and Recchi - it was not due to cap issues, it was due to the fact that CJ wasn't a Kessel fan, and Kessel feeling under-appreciated,mostly from Julien and PC. Ryder and Wideman are worth 4 mill...Bergeron almost 6...Kessel wasn't worth 5 ? If you don't think Claude Julien isn't a force when it comes to GM duties - think againPosted by JWensink

You just shed 4 players who would not have added up to what kessel secured from toronto..

Ryder was a UFA, and bergy signed that deal before his concussion, having proved much more then kessel had at the time that he signed that deal and is a lesser cap hit.. Also a better all around player, you want a do over on that, cause it was a really poor run, the b's went over the cap last year, so cap issues were certainly there, its not the sole issue, but the bruins but its nieve to act like 5.25 m was not a factor..

Krejci was a more proven commodity and sucked it up and took less, and as I stated before Bobby Ryan got a very similar deal in anahiem and is a better player...The bruins were unwilling to over pay for their own RFA

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : Ryder just had a 27 goal season. They were not going to move him down to Providence after that. In HINDSIGHT, yes maybe that would have been a good move. TT won the Vezina. I agree that contract was horrible but not because of the 5 mil cap hit for 2009-2010, solely for the length of the contract. NO ONE could have guessed that Tuuka would come into the league and take over the starting job so quickly. Again, HINDSIGHT. Savard has consistently been the top scorer on this team in total points. He was our top set up guy and a huge part of the PP. They were not about to move him. Kessel was asking way too much as a RFA and Burke was being too aggressive. The Bruins could not turn down 2 firsts and a second.Posted by 306bruinsfan

Good call, and a nice dose or realism.. Bruins8 would have traded or let savy go to make room for kessel?? brilliant idea, Savard creates far more offense then kessel does.. Thus the reason he scored 80 points that season to kessels 60..

As well as the ability to play in more situations then kessel and coming at a more reasonable cap hit.. Its really absurd to think you pay an RFA 5.25m for 1 good season when his game is that one dimensional.. If his scoring is off, he brings nothing to the table.. Did the bruins under estimate what his loss would mean certainly, you cant project that kind of stuff, as well as the mix of injuries, the ideas that sturm/bergeron/lucic krejci wheeler, etc etc could pick up 36 goals between them was not bad logic, it just didnt pan out.. the addition of kessel and subtraction of the 2-3 guys you shed to make room for him certainly was not the difference between a cup last season.. Horton pots 30 this year and brings a better overall game to the table then kessel does what will the argument be then? kessel scored 35 and would have scored 50 in boston.. He's gone, didnt particularly want to be here, and isn't coming back..

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : Good call, and a nice dose or realism.. Bruins8 would have traded or let savy go to make room for kessel?? brilliant idea, Savard creates far more offense then kessel does.. Thus the reason he scored 80 points that season to kessels 60.. As well as the ability to play in more situations then kessel and coming at a more reasonable cap hit.. Its really absurd to think you pay an RFA 5.25m for 1 good season when his game is that one dimensional.. If his scoring is off, he brings nothing to the table.. Did the bruins under estimate what his loss would mean certainly, you cant project that kind of stuff, as well as the mix of injuries, the ideas that sturm/bergeron/lucic krejci wheeler, etc etc could pick up 36 goals between them was not bad logic, it just didnt pan out.. the addition of kessel and subtraction of the 2-3 guys you shed to make room for him certainly was not the difference between a cup last season.. Horton pots 30 this year and brings a better overall game to the table then kessel does what will the argument be then? kessel scored 35 and would have scored 50 in boston.. He's gone, didnt particularly want to be here, and isn't coming back..Posted by rolerhoky19

Here we go again with the FUZZY MATH to justify the blunder of losing Kessel.Last year remember this guy was going to score this many while this guy scores this and his salary is this that combined equals this.Never happened did it?

What fuzzy math do you see?? the bruins went over the cap last year, thats plain and simple, and kessel earned 5.25m, they would have had to shed that (meaning 2 players to make up that salary, and then would have had to shed a 3rd player to make enough room to fill out the rosters spots..)I am sorry if math is hard for you but kessel earned 5.25 m..

assuming chara is off the table, even if we traded ryder for a 4th round pick, we still would have to dump another 1.25m..

ok thats not to tough, but then we have to replace every roster player we dump, so our only option from here is probably finding someone to take sturm for a draft pick, now we have shed 7.5m, and we can add kessel, and call up some kid from providence.. And again, this move is all done in hindsight, cause following a 27g campaign your unlikley to want to ship off ryder, and sturm just to make room for kessel, when expectations would be 25 from ryder, and 20-25 from sturm..

the fact is he did not earn the pay day he got, the bruins identified their "core" guys signed them first and offered kessel (from all reports some where around 4-4.5m?) which is more then fair for an RFA coming off his first and really only decent season..

His contract is nearly indentical to bobby ryans, who is indeed a better player..

bottom line kessel will score between 35-40 on a leafs team thats very bad with no center imagine how many he would have on the bruins......is their one forward on the bruins right now you wouldnt trade for kessel? i dont see 1 not 1 that will score more than kessel this season....why are we waiting for 3-4 years to young kids hopefully develop....lets win now kessel allows us to do that..seguin allows it in 3-4 years

bottom line kessel will score between 35-40 on a leafs team thats very bad with no center imagine how many he would have on the bruins......is their one forward on the bruins right now you wouldnt trade for kessel? i dont see 1 not 1 that will score more than kessel this season....why are we waiting for 3-4 years to young kids hopefully develop....lets win now kessel allows us to do that..seguin allows it in 3-4 yearsPosted by bruins8

Kessel sure helped the Leafs win this past year...

Also, I wouldn't trade Krejci, Seguin, Chara or Tuuka straight up for Kessel. There are probably others as well but those four for sure.

bottom line kessel will score between 35-40 on a leafs team thats very bad with no center imagine how many he would have on the bruins......is their one forward on the bruins right now you wouldnt trade for kessel? i dont see 1 not 1 that will score more than kessel this season....why are we waiting for 3-4 years to young kids hopefully develop....lets win now kessel allows us to do that..seguin allows it in 3-4 yearsPosted by bruins8

Clear understanding of hockey, should tell you kessel would have less with the bruins as he would have a reduced roll, he would not be able to free wheel, and cj doesnt "trade chance".. Kessel would still score, but instead of finishing 35g 20a and a -19 he might be 30-25 and a plus 12..

and yes there are many forwards I would not trade on the bruins right now for kessel.. The short list would include bergeron (assuming he is resigned) krejci, lucic, seguin and horton.. All are more completely players, horton has very similar offensive numbers with a better overall game...

kessel will have more goals playing with no center in tor then krejci seguin chara and tukka will have combinedPosted by bruins8

You are literally as one dimensional as Kessel. There is more to the game than scoring goals.

Chara will prevent more goals and shutdown players like Kessel, Krejci can play PK and is very gifted offensively, Tuuka had the best GAA in the league last year, Seguin has a much lower cap hit and much higher potential than Kessel.

Realistically I've just wasted my time typing this because, like I said before, you are one dimensional.

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : The B's had space available under the cap....AND proceeded to spend available dollars on Begin-Bitz-Hunwick and Recchi - it was not due to cap issues, it was due to the fact that CJ wasn't a Kessel fan, and Kessel feeling under-appreciated,mostly from Julien and PC. Ryder and Wideman are worth 4 mill...Bergeron almost 6...Kessel wasn't worth 5 ? If you don't think Claude Julien isn't a force when it comes to GM duties - think againPosted by JWensink

Very true, Because of cj kessel became expendable, how gullible are u fans to blame it on the cap , u play right into the gm's hands. U make sure u sign ur best first and i said it b4 and i say it again , they could have signed for cheaper then 5 a yr.

got to watch out with the "who cares" expression . it doesn't matter where kessel is playing it's what we feel he would have done in boston. U actually think we would be talking about him if he wasn' t drafted by the bruins and playing elsewhere, of course not , it's because we let him go.

Bergie, Lucic, Savard(when healthy), krejci, kessel, horton(even if u count him out) , Anyone who knows this game would tell u that is one heckuva an offensive nucleus and combined with the rasks , charas , ds, stuart etc.,.they are good enough to win us a cup now not in 3-5 yrs. That is what it is all about a cup now,

i cannot still believe that idiots say who kessel doesn'yt show up when it's time. ever hear about something called playoffs 9 goals and 6 assists . It will be a long time b4 u see a player scoring that many goals in only 15 playoff games.

this bruin team now is a fine team but not a cup winning team not now, anyhow

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : Very true, Because of cj kessel became expendable, how gullible are u fans to blame it on the cap , u play right into the gm's hands. U make sure u sign ur best first and i said it b4 and i say it again , they could have signed for cheaper then 5 a yr. got to watch out with the "who cares" expression . it doesn't matter where kessel is playing it's what we feel he would have done in boston. U actually think we would be talking about him if he wasn' t drafted by the bruins and playing elsewhere, of course not , it's because we let him go. Bergie, Lucic, Savard(when healthy), krejci, kessel, horton(even if u count him out) , Anyone who knows this game would tell u that is one heckuva an offensive nucleus and combined with the rasks , charas , ds, stuart etc.,.they are good enough to win us a cup now not in 3-5 yrs. That is what it is all about a cup now, i cannot still believe that idiots say who kessel doesn'yt show up when it's time. ever hear about something called playoffs 9 goals and 6 assists . It will be a long time b4 u see a player scoring that many goals in only 15 playoff games. this bruin team now is a fine team but not a cup winning team not now, anyhowPosted by marco1001

marco marco marco, we going to go at it about kessel for another whole season??

We've been there and done that.

But one thing, we didn't let Kessel walk. Burke took him. Look at the plain facts. Why would Burke give us one extra first round draft pick? Because Burke doesn't know the CBA? No. Think about the whole offer sheet thing with Dustin Penner. So what happened was PC and Burke went behind closed doors. The bidding started and then went too high, one of them, Burke or PC must have then said ok, we'll compensate like he's getting 5.5 mil, but instead of giving him that money, we'll give you the extra draft pick AS IF they made an offer sheet of 5.5 million. Plain and simple. Burke was going to stop at nothing to get Kessel. PC tried to keep up with the bidding, but then the price got too high. There is no other explanation as to why an additional first round pick was given.

Bad Hab, Bad hab Bad Hab,first off i did not start this thread but regardless, the kessel topic will never be totally closed.unless we do not care for the cup.let me tell u my firend, i do not kno if u ever owned a business . As a business u lock up ur assets quick, un make it priority U don't make ryder, thomas, hunwick, krejci etc.. priority. have u forgotten that even b4 kessel was a rfa they had traded him for kaberle and another player thoughty to be Kadri and burke said no. U think kessel did not kno about that,everyone else did . U think that palyers agents do not kno when a team is not displaying the sufficient interests. Of course , that is what they are paid to do.Now bad hab ur no dummy, so just keep an open mind on this next questrion/scenario.since ur insenuating kessel would have been had by burke no matter what,Here it is imagine gorton the guy who loved and drafted kessel the guy that put an incredible smile on kess face whne he drafted phil, phil the guy who said nothing but great things of the bruins org. Now do u really think that if gorton was here he would have lost kessel. NO WAY !he would have been priority and he was not for Chiarelli and big puppy face DUMBO who prefer butt licking never never benched garbage players like ryder and begin.

Remember chiarelli said he let the kessel talks get to the point of no return , on Nesn he said it,

Just lucky we got seguin and hopefully he develops quicker then later because he will nnot make an impcat this year and as i said i am not interested in a 20 -25gs playmaker . i want a natural gs we need one for the cup but that's for another story

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : marco marco marco, we going to go at it about kessel for another whole season?? We've been there and done that. But one thing, we didn't let Kessel walk. Burke took him. Look at the plain facts. Why would Burke give us one extra first round draft pick? Because Burke doesn't know the CBA? No. Think about the whole offer sheet thing with Dustin Penner. So what happened was PC and Burke went behind closed doors. The bidding started and then went too high, one of them, Burke or PC must have then said ok, we'll compensate like he's getting 5.5 mil, but instead of giving him that money, we'll give you the extra draft pick AS IF they made an offer sheet of 5.5 million. Plain and simple. Burke was going to stop at nothing to get Kessel. PC tried to keep up with the bidding, but then the price got too high. There isnootherexplanationastowhyanadditionalfirstroundpickwasgiven. Posted by BadHabitude

I don't know when it will sink in . That's exactly it . In order for PC not to match and keep Kessel Burke gave up the extra pick. Burke would not stop at anything. When this is all said and done, Seguin, Spooner and next years Leaf 1st round pick Burke is going to be ran out of town.

In Response to Re: nhl.com "kessel's strong preseason continues" : I don't know when it will sink in . That's exactly it . In order for PC not to match and keep Kessel Burke gave up the extra pick. Burke would not stop at anything. When this is all said and done, Seguin, Spooner and next years Leaf 1st round pick Burke is going to be ran out of town.Posted by BsLegion

Bs read above also u might be getting a little ahead of urself on spooner. and next year's number 1. I don't see toronto making playoffs next yr as well and difficult to say whether or not they finish dead last. i think fla will have those honours . Tor 's giguere may give them stability in nets.next years draft is a weak one , the guy i would love to have is larsson, also heard good things of couturier but i will wait b4 i comment more on him, the chancess we get either of these guys are probably quite slim .

and marco, svp stop with your Gorton for the love of Pete !! If he was such a great GM why hasn't he been hired by another team ??? BTW , it's Gorton and his staff/scouts that updated and gave PC scouting reports on Versteeg and made him expendable. Chiarelli could not have evaluated Versteeg as he was just hired and did not follow Providence.Where did he get his info from ? Gorton !